Newspaper op-ed declares IRS data proves Trump tax cuts helped working class more than rich

An op-ed published this weekend in The Hill newspaper declared that new IRS data shows that former President Donald Trump's 2017 tax cut law benefited working- and middle-class Americans more than the rich.

"Income data published by the IRS clearly show that on average all income brackets benefited substantially from the Republicans’ tax reform law, with the biggest beneficiaries being working and middle-income filers, not the top 1 percent, as so many Democrats have argued," wrote the author Justin Haskins, director of the Socialism Research Center at The Heartland Institute, a conservative think tank.

Haskins said his analysis of the IRS data found that taxpayers earning:

• between $15,000 and $50,000 saw tax savings of 16 percent to 26 percent in 2018, the first year after the law and the only for which full IRS data is available.
• between $50,000 to $100,000 averaged tax savings of 15 percent to 17 percent,.
• between $100,000 to $500,000 saw personal income taxes cut by 11 percent to 13 percent.
• $500,000 or more received an average tax cut above 9 percent, with the average savings for those over $1 million being less than 6 percent.

"The fact is, Republicans’ 2017 tax reform law did exactly what was promised: It lowered taxes for all income groups, provided the greatest benefits for middle-income households, and spurred economic growth that helped reduce poverty and improve prosperity," Haskins wrote.